U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson will be in court next week for a half-day trial to determine whether his 24-year marriage was valid in the first place, or if his wife was still legally married to another man when they wed.
Lawyers for Grayson, D-Orlando, argue...

If you move away from Central Florida, almost nobody will get your reference to the Appliance Direct guy. Or John Arie, Jr. of "It's HUGE!" fame. Or Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs.
These are our celebrities. They're our elected officials. They appear...

Dozens of local governments — from Downers Grove to Frankfort — face investment losses totaling more than $50 million of taxpayer money in a fraud scheme the FBI and the U.S. attorney's office in Chicago are unraveling.
The tax dollars...

Mingo’s Restaurant in downtown Orlando has closed its doors, in a development apparently related to the scandal that engulfed one of its investor-owners, Nikesh Patel of Orlando.
Meanwhile, another Mingo’s location in East Orlando, at the...

Facing criminal charges of fraud and a $72 million lawsuit, Orlando businessman Nikesh Patel has agreed to sell five hotels, two multimillion-dollar homes, several luxury brand watches, a Rolls Royce, a Lamborghini, and gold coins.
But Patel hasn’t admitted guilt, according to his attorney Mark NeJame.
“We agreed we were going to sell some assets off,” NeJame said. “He’s acknowledging that he owes some of the money, and he is doing the right thing by selling some assets...

There’s a ripple effect spreading from the alleged loan fraud of Orlando businessman Nik Patel, who was arrested on Sept. 30 on federal charges that he lied about $179 million in loans he sold through his company First Farmers Financial.
The latest fallout comes in a federal lawsuit in Texas, where administrators for the American Excelsior Co.’s employee stock ownership fund (ESOP) say that $13.6 million of its money has been frozen as a result of the Patel case.
According to the Texas...

A Milwaukee company suing Orlando businessman Nik Patel over alleged loan fraud has expanded its damage claim to $537.5 million.
The company, Pennant Management, also included a new defendant in the lawsuit – Patel's business partner Timothy Fisher – and aimed some allegations at the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Patel was arrested on Sept. 30 on charges of selling $179 million in fraudulent loans to Pennant.
In its civil suit, Pennant alleges that Fisher and Patel met in California...

Orlando businessman Nikesh A. Patel has been arrested by federal authorities on fraud charges.
Authorities say Patel fraudulently sold $150 million in loans to an unidentified Milwaukee company. The FBI alleges he sold the loans as being guaranteed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture when they were not.
An order releasing Patel on $100,000 bond was signed by U.S. Magistrate Judge David Baker in Orlando on Sept. 30.
An affidavit from the FBI attached to Patel’s arrest warrant states: “...

Long before federal authorities arrested young hotshot hotelier Nik Patel on massive fraud charges this month, there were plenty of red flags about Patel's background.
His résumé was full of holes.
He claimed to have graduated from the University of Central Florida. He had not.
He claimed to be a part-owner of the Memphis Grizzlies. The Grizzlies said that wasn't true.
Patel had a rocky business record with a mix of successes, delays, failures and even being flat broke.
But in Orlando, nobody...

Two hotel renovation projects in Orlando are in limbo in the wake of businessman Nik Patel’s recent arrest on federal allegations of fraudulently selling $150 million in loans to a finance company.
Patel is a financier who has invested millions of dollars in hotel renovations in the past year. His hotel company, Alena Hospitality, had been renovating the Crowne Plaza hotel at 12490 S Apopka Vineland Road, and the former Marriott hotel in downtown Orlando.
The hotel projects are caught up in...